staying cool without a pool

Who needs a pool

when you have a sprinkler?

We get just as wet

and there's even a waterslide

Cancel that.

Mom says no more waterslide.

best buddies

these two are two peas in a pod.

always excited to see each other in the nursery.

sharing toys and cheerios.

hitting growth milestones together.

someday she will find more in common

with the other little girls at church,

who are a little too old, or a little too young

for her to play with now.

and someday he will start thinking

its "not cool" to have a girl for a best friend.

but for now they are best buds.

and someday,

(as their parents fondly imagine)

perhaps they will renew their friendship.

but no pressure.

I wonder...

I was watching Sleeping Beauty with the girls while folding clothes today, and I was struck with the same question that always plagued me when I was a child: "What was the gift that Merriweather was about to bestow before Maleficent showed up and altered her plans?" I like to think that Merriweather, as the most practical and realistic of the three fairies, would have given Aurora something really useful, like common sense, or a personality. In fact, if she'd given her common sense, the last 45 minutes of the movie could have been avoided, because she would have known better than to follow an eerie greenish light up a dimly lit stairway. Sometimes its just best to stick to the original plan.

Flashback

Yesterday morning Theia and Eliza were playing a make-believe that involved tiptoeing around me for awhile and whispering furtively to each other while casting nervous glances in my direction. Theia paused long enough to explain, with a sheepish grin, "We're pretending you're a big mean lady today." I wasn't really too fond of this idea, but it jogged my memory. I recall my sister and me pretending that our mom was an evil stepmother sort of villian on certain occasions when she made unreasonable demands of us, such as requiring us to fold laundry, or clean up the disaster zone in our bedroom. It was a great comfort to our martyr-like souls at such times.

(Penny and me with our big bro, Pat)

I am continually seeing Penny and myself in Theia and Eliza as they grow up. Fond memories. I'm so glad they have each other.

I am deeply mildly ashamed...

It is with deep shame that I admit that I actually had to invite the census guy in this evening to answer his 5 minutes worth of questions. Our census form had been filled out and ready to mail within 24 hours of its receipt, I believe, but for the lack of a stamp it went unmailed, and eventually disappeared from out of sight and mind, never to resurface again from the abyss of forgotten forms, receipts, sunday school papers, and pictures of rainbows. We were unaware that we'd even missed the deadline until we came home one night a few weeks ago to find a friendly reminder on our doorstep.

I am not one to be uncooperative, but when I was awakened from my nap by a ring at the doorbell a couple days ago, I decided that whoever was there was unlikely to have anything on their agenda that was important enough to interrupt my nap for. Another ring and Ingrid woke up from her nap. Grrrrr. I was awake enough by then to realize that it was probably a census person again, and I'd best get it over with. Then I was rudely jolted out of my grogginess by very aggressive and prolonged knocking. My goodwill toward census employees was quickly erased. I was certainly NOT going to answer the door now. After several more increasingly violent spells of knocking, (I think they heard Ingrid, so they knew someone was home and were just taking out their annoyance at not being answered) the person gave up and went back to their car. I was incensed. I wonder what that person would have said if I had actually opened the door in the middle of one of their violent attacks on it.

Anyhow, when the doorbell rang this evening, the girls were all awake and went bounding joyously to the door, en masse, so I had no choice but to answer it. The elderly gentleman on the doorstep seemed very pleasant, so I invited him in, after asking if he'd been here already this week. I told him about the last person pounding on my door, and he assured me it wasn't him. The girls were in a great state of excitement the whole time he was there, as they always are when any friend, repairman, package delivery person, etc. enters the house for any reason. I meekly answered all his questions, assuring him that I am, in fact, a woman, and am, in fact, white, and that my husband actually is, a man, and then sent him on his merry way, with Eliza cheerfully declaring that she'd "See you on Sunday!", and Theia unceremoniously slamming the door behind him (she's a little overzealous when it come to doors).

So, it was a pain-free experience, and I realized after he left that I wasn't even asked to provide our SS#'s this way. Maybe procrastination is the best policy after all.

yes, yes, and yes.

Yes, that's me in this picture.

Yes, I look exacly like Ingrid.

Yes, my mom actually CHOSE

that wallpaper for her kitchen.

the five of us...

We take a lot of pictures in our family, you may have noticed. When your camera is the most recently acquired, and by far the most expensive toy in the house, it sees a lot of use. Jessie likes to play with it any time he has a spare minute, often sneaking up on unsuspecting children at play (His children - don’t anybody worry – he’s not that creepy guy on the playground), or welcoming the exploitation of any acquaintances we have who are willing to be his guinea pigs. So, we have no shortage of images of our girls, but the last time we had any pictures taken of the 5 of us together, Ingrid wasn’t yet able to hold her head up! (see here)

Therefore, we are very grateful to our friend Leslie, who is very comfortable behind the camera, for trading services with us a few weeks ago, and turning out the images seen below. You can check out some of Jessie’s work with her family on her sweet blog, here and here.